Paid Notice: Deaths
REIF, DR

Published: November 1, 2010

REIF--Dr. Irving Lester, 99, died October 30 of cancer. Beloved husband to Natalie Wilder Reif, beloved father to Karla Reif-Teitler of Brooklyn; Robin Reif of Manhattan; Henry Reif of London, England; Jessica Reif Cohen of Manhattan and Nancy Reif of Roseland, N.J., beloved father-in-law to Jay Teitler and Bob Cohen; adored grandfather to Amanda, Joshua, Kara, Marisa, Sophia, AJ and Vanessa. He was a family doctor in Brooklyn for 60 years, making house calls to the very end. In WWII, he was Regimental Surgeon of the Rainbow Division's 232nd, one of three U.S. units to liberate Dachau on April 29, 1945. He was decorated for organizing field hospitals in the Bad Gastein Valley for concentration camp survivors. Prior to the war, he was a physician in the Civilian Conservation Corps. His great passions in life were his family, medicine, social justice and the Brooklyn Dodgers. He never forgave them for moving to L.A. He also loved the New York Times Obituary section which he read every day, with a sense of triumph at outliving nearly everyone. Always his own man--irreverent, blunt, bowing to no one--there was no one like him, nor will there ever be. He will be greatly mourned and missed. The family will hold a private service.